A/N: This is flowing at a very slow pace, simply because that's where the writing is taking me, but if it's too slow, please, just let me know. Also I think this chapter is a little shorter than the previous ones, but that's because I wanted the next chapter to stand on its own, and I didn't want to stretch the party out.

Part Three

Whatever Kelly said to Brenda, it certainly seemed to have worked. Not only had Brenda rejoined the group, but she was smiling and telling stories about her friends in London, and Brandon even heard her have a friendly exchange with their father.

"It's decided," Brandon whispered as he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist and dropped a kiss to her neck. "You are a miracle worker."

"I don't know about that," Kelly answered quietly, sounding distracted. She was watching Brenda from across the room, as Brenda chatted with Claire. Brandon followed her gaze.

"Well you got her in the holiday spirit, and that's more than I can say for anyone else here," Brandon said. Kelly turned in his arms and met his eyes.

"You really shouldn't be so hard on her," she reprimanded him. "You and your father are always so hard on her. You always have been."

"Kelly…"

"Sorry," Kelly shook her head, cutting him off before he began. "I didn't mean… it's just, she's going through something…"

"She's always going through something."

"God, what happened to you guys?" Kelly's voice was a little louder now, and Brandon saw Steve glance curiously, though Brenda, thankfully, didn't seem to have heard. "You used to be so close, and now… what exactly is so bad about her being home, Brandon?"

"Nothing," Brandon shrugged. Why did it seem like Kelly was suddenly on Brenda's side against him? And since when were he and Brenda on different sides anyway? "Kelly, what's going on? What did she tell you?"

"Nothing. Forget I said anything," Kelly stepped out of his arms and leaned against the wall. "I just used to think you guys were best friends. Now it seems like you don't even want her around."

"You guys aren't exactly best friends any more either," Brandon couldn't help retorting, even though he wanted nothing more than to get out of this fight and go back to three minutes ago when his arms were around Kelly and his sister was smiling and the undeclared war that seemed to be raging in the Walsh house was on hold for the holidays.

"Well as far as I know you didn't sleep with Dylan."

Kelly and Brandon exchanged heated glares for a few seconds, before Kelly's words sunk in, and they both started to chuckle. "I'm sorry Brandon," Kelly sighed when they quieted. "I just care about you both, and it hurts to see things so weird around here."

Brandon pulled her back into his arms and kissed her softly.

"So what did Brenda tell you, anyway?" he asked when they pulled apart. Kelly shifted her weight a little, before they were interrupted.

"Sorry to interrupt, lovebirds," Andrea's words were teasing, and Brandon was relieved to see a smile on her lips. In spite of Andrea's marriage, he still worried about how she'd react to his relationship with Kelly. Given the way she'd responded sophomore year, when Kelly had worked on his campaign and when he'd taken Kelly to the spring formal, and given the way he and Andrea had danced around the idea of dating pretty much all through high school, he worried about flaunting what he and Kelly now had.

"No interruption," Kelly smiled at Andrea, twisting in Brandon's arm to face their friend, who was holding Hannah, Jesse at their side. "You guys leaving?"

"We have to meet my family for dinner before midnight mass," Jesse nodded. Andrea handed Hannah to her father before stepping forward and pulling Brandon and Kelly each into a hug.

"Merry Christmas, you guys," she kissed them each on the cheek and pointed to the nearest archway. "There's mistletoe over there if you need an excuse."

"Ha ha," Kelly smiled. "Enjoy mass."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Going out with Stuart, again?" Ginger was looking positively sour, although her words were teasing. Valerie couldn't help but feel a little pleased that for once it was Val who was having a fling and Ginger who was stuck in the hotel room on Christmas Eve.

"Yeah," she answered, brushing her hair in the mirror and watching Ginger out of the corner of her eye. "There's a cocktail party at his hotel. I'll, uh, probably just stay over tonight."

"Oooh," Ginger sat up on the bed and raised both eyebrows. "Staying over. That's new."

"Ginger we had sex last night."

And it was good too, Val thought. She was moving faster with Stuart than she usually did – faster than she had with Dylan even – but it wasn't exactly her fault. He was sweeping her off her feet. Suddenly I understand what Brenda was thinking when she almost married… damn, what was that guy's name?

"Yeah," Ginger was saying as she climbed off of the bed and walked over to Val, throwing an arm over her shoulder. "But sleeping over there means waking up over there. And he hasn't seen you wake up yet, covered in mascara from the night before and looking like a train wreck. That's a big step, girlfriend."

"Oh shut up," Val hip checked Ginger lightly. "I'll wash my face before I fall asleep."

But a knot of tension had settled in Val's stomach.

What if Stuart didn't like waking up with her?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Iris pulled her rental car to a stop outside the Walsh house, Dylan suddenly remembered his biggest reason to avoid this particular Christmas party.

He'd bet every dime he had left – which wasn't all that much, after the scam and the alcohol and drugs he'd purchased since the scam went down – that Brenda Walsh would not be happy to see him.

In fact, she'd probably throw whatever drink the Walshes were serving their underage guests right in his face. And he'd deserve it.

"Iris," he turned to his mother before she could open the door. "Mom. Look this probably isn't a good idea."

"You'll have to face them someday."

"It's not that, it's just that Brenda's back, and…" Dylan trailed off, knowing at once that he'd said the thing most likely to make his mother force him to go into the house.

"Cindy mentioned it when she called me," Iris proved her son right by smiling slyly. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you."

"And I'm not," Dylan spoke firmly, hoping against hope his tone would make Iris understand how badly he'd screwed things up this time around, but she didn't seem to catch on.

"Well, you'll have to see her sometime, too."

With that, Iris got out of the car, and Dylan had no choice but to follow her.

"This is gonna be bad," he muttered.

Iris rang the bell.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I guess Andrea must have forgotten something," Jim said as he went to open the door for the eighth time. Everyone else was in the dining room, where Cindy had set up a buffet style feast fit for a king. "Iris."

"I hope we aren't intruding," Brenda heard Dylan's mother's voice before she saw the woman, but the word 'we' caused Brenda to cast a panicked look around the table. Donna was staring at her from the other side of the table, where she was picking at the ham slices. Beside Brenda, Kelly was staring at the door.

Iris stepped through the doorway, removing her coat. Dylan followed right behind her, and his eyes immediately found Brenda, or maybe the found Kelly and Brenda just happened to be next to Kelly. The whole thing made Brenda's head hurt – though thankfully it was the too-familiar Dylan-Kelly-Brenda headache, and not the increasingly familiar cancer headache.

"Uh, of course not," Cindy moved over to the door, casting a nervous glance in her daughter's direction. "You were invited. Come in. We were just about to eat."

"Oh good, I'm starved. Plane food is truly terrible," Iris spoke like she was confessing some great secret, although everyone in the room could hear her, and the disgust that was plane food was generally understood.

Then Iris caught Brenda's stare.

"Brenda!" she cried, and Brenda reluctantly set her plate down and went to meet her ex-boyfriend's sometimes-estranged mother. "My goodness it's been awhile."

"It has," Brenda agreed, leaning in for a quick hug.

"Too long," Iris pulled back. "I kept expecting to see you at the hospital when Dylan was… well, that's over and done with, isn't it?"

Brenda just stood, focusing too closely on Iris in a vain attempt not to notice Dylan out of the corner of her eye. "I was away," she explained, although her explanation fell flat. Time was, Brenda would have given up everything the minute Dylan needed her.

Thing is, he didn't need me this time, she thought. Or at least, he didn't want me.

"Well, aren't you just as beautiful as ever," Iris smiled, looking Brenda over. "You simply have to be a movie star someday. No one is that beautiful for nothing."

"Thank you."

"Let's eat, shall we?" Jim herded them all into the dining room and Brenda fell back into place beside Kelly, avoiding looking at Dylan any more than was absolutely necessary.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Long after their parents had left and Mr. and Mrs. Walsh had headed up to bed with see-no-evil-hear-no-parties expressions on their faces, most of the young people were still in the living room, one empty bottle of champagne and one half full bottle on the floor in front of them. After rousing games of never-have-I-ever and truth-or-dare, they had pretty much coupled off. Kelly and Brandon were cuddling on an armchair, watching the fire; though, if you asked Brenda, Kelly's expression wasn't admiring so much as fearful. David and Claire were sharing the couch with Steve and Donna, laughing about something or other, Brenda on the floor in front of them, regaling them with stories of London and the friends she'd made and classes she'd taken. And her boyfriend, Jacob.

Dylan was alone on an armchair, engaging in what was fast becoming an old habit of his – listening in on his friends' conversations, seeing as no one was actually talking to him.

"So, are you guys doing the whole long distance thing or what?" Donna's voice slurred slightly, belying how much champagne she'd drunk. Brenda's answering laugh sounded exactly as Dylan remembered.

"God no," he heard her answer, sounding like the only other sober person in the room, which she probably was. Dylan didn't remember ever seeing Brenda drunk. In fact, he didn't remember her having more than one drink on any given night. "Like I have such positive experience in that arena, anyway?"

"Oh, duh," Donna giggled, and put a hand on Claire's arm. "She means 'cause of Dylan."

Donna's drunken announcement was loud enough for the whole room to hear, and the room hung suspended in awkward silence. Brenda was avoiding Dylan's eyes with even more vigor than she had been earlier, and her cheeks had turned just the slightest shade of pink.

Kelly broke the silence, saying something quietly to Brandon, and after a few seconds, Dylan heard Brenda speak again.

"It's not like Jake and I were really serious anyway," she said, returning to her previous topic of conversation. "We'd only known each other a few months, and then suddenly everything was different and serious… It just got too weird."

"Better to be single anyway," Steve crowed, raising his glass to toast with Brenda. She smiled at the leering once-over he gave her. "Besides, if we ever get lonely, we always have each other."

"In your dreams, Steve."

"Besides, what would you know about being in a relationship anyway?" Donna teased him. "The last person you were with for more than a month was Kelly."

"Wait a minute," Claire held up a hand. "Kelly, as in… Kelly?"

"It was a long time ago," Steve scowled at Donna. "And I was with Celeste for more than a month, thank you."

"Yeah, and you cheated on her," Donna retorted.

"Yeah, well…" Steve looked down at his drink. "Shut up."

"Let me get this straight," Claire continued, looking at David as she spoke. "Kelly used to date Steve and Dylan, and now she's with Brandon," Kelly blushed bright red as she spoke. "And Brenda used to date Dylan, and Val used to do something with Dylan, and you" Claire poked David in the chest "used to date Donna… and you're all still friends?"

"Oh," Donna giggled. "Yeah I guess that is a little weird."

"You know what?" Brenda stood up, looking at the floor as she spoke. "I think I'm going to go to bed. Happy Birthday Donna Goodnight everyone. Merry Christmas."

"What?" Claire asked as Brenda left the room. Donna shook her head, holding a finger to her lips.

"It's probably a bad thing to talk about Dylan and Valerie in front of her."

At that, Dylan stood up and left the room. Knowing he should probably just get leave the Walsh house, Dylan stood in the entrance hall for a split second before turning and heading up the stairs to follow Brenda.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~